The Media will treat any issue about the JWs like a tempest in a teapot.
Disassociation - shunning - can we all lobby Government that it is against freedom of religion?
by stockholm_Syndrome 45 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Village Idiot
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keyser soze
What if you want to shun someone because they're an asshole?
I agree that the WT's shunning policy is inhumane, but there's a lot of grey area when you're talking about the government getting involved.
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stockholm_Syndrome
Australian Human Rights commission on religious freedoms:
very interesting...
We cannot say it is a given conclusion that lobbying for change may work --it may even be highly unlikely---but worth a shot?
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stockholm_Syndrome
Keyser soze --- thats not religious freedom --- go forth my son and shun
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Simon
So what have you done so far for your campaign stockholme_Syndrome? How many MPs have you written to? How many signatures have you canvassed for?
I would be surprised if you could get beyond the few thousand "auto-click" online signups of exJWs who would vote for it just because it's something against the WTS.
There is no way on earth that the government is going to get involved in this. It's the kind of thing that religions would combine forces on so for a politician it would be basically voting to have themselves removed from office.
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Lee Elder
We all have the right to decide who we will spend time with, so impossible to ban shunning I think. It is the "institution" shunning that needs to be addressed, and more specifically, "enforced shunning" as practiced by Jehovah's Witnesses. This is what destroys lives, and families. People are not stupid for the most part. If we don't go out of our way to protect a known pedophile, people who have children will decide on their own not to spend time with them. On the other hand, I think most folks really don't care if someone sleeps with their boyfriend, girlfriend, etc. Takes a puff of marijuana, etc. If they do, and don't care to spend time with that person - that is their choice.
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poopie
I think Stuart Anderson said it best "yours is as captive religion" Jehovah does not want people to feel forced to remain as a Jw by holding the family ties over his head that's blackmail that's coercion that is unloving that is selfish and cruel it can be likened to a form of emotional terror inflicted on another human made in God's image.
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slimboyfat
Simon is right you can't make people not shun or make them associate with people they don't want to. That's pretty obvious.
What the state can perhaps do is deny privileges and benefits to religious or other organisations that promote shunning family members. It is then up to the organisation to either reform their policies or suffer consequences. This might include loss of charitable status, and denial of privileges, legal status or avenues of influence accorded to religious bodies generally. This does not curtail anyone's rights but nudges organisations in the right direction. In the case of JWs it would be no more than an invitation to live up to their own statement that:
No one should be forced to worship in a way that he finds unacceptable or be made to choose between his beliefs and his family.
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stockholm_Syndrome
thanks slimboyfat -- added your cross-reference to my blog - Gold!
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JeffT
I'm more afraid of a government that dictates who I can and can not associate with, than I am a religion that tells me who I can and can't associate with. I'm even more afraid of a government that dictates who I MUST associate with.